Martin O’Neill hopes he is the man in the home dugout when work on Nottingham Forest’s new multi-million pound stadium redevelopment is completed – and he wants to deliver top flight football, to go with their Premier League facilities.

And the former European Cup winner is delighted that the Reds are remaining at their historic home on the banks of the River Trent.

Forest plan to begin work on a complete rebuild of the Peter Taylor Stand, which will become a spectacular two-tier structure, and extensive work around the rest of the ground - which has been their home since 1898 - in the summer of 2020.

How Nottingham Forest's City Ground stadium could look following an ambitious planned £50m redevelopment (Image: Benoy)

As revealed on Nottinghamshire Live this morning, Evangelos Marinakis will back ambitious plans - which are expected to cost tens of millions of pounds - to give the stadium a first major revamp since 1994, which is likely to extend the capacity of the stadium to around the 38,000 mark.

The work will see every major facility within the stadium upgraded, including dressing rooms, banqueting and corporate facilities, the media suite and the concourse facilities to world class quality.

O’Neill is thrilled for the club – and hopes to still be in place as manager, when the new look City Ground is ready for action.

“That would be fantastic. If I am still here, it means we are doing okay, does it? That is the best way to look at things,” said O’Neill, who has been handed the task of delivering promotion before the end of his current contract, which runs until the summer of 2020, when the club hope to get work underway on the redevelopment.

“I tried to make a point recently, quite clumsily, that even Clough took two-and-a-half years to win promotion. My challenge is to do it in less time.

“It would be honestly great to manage this team in the big league and with a stadium to match.

“These plans show the intentions of the owner, don’t they? Whoever is in charge, it will be fantastic.”

A pitch view of what the new Peter Taylor Stand could look like, following the planned £50m development of the City Ground (Image: Benoy)

O’Neill has some incredible memories of his time as a player at the City Ground, when he was part of the squad that won promotion from the old Second Division, won the league title and then secured back-to-back European Cup successes.

And he is pleased that the club have worked hard to remain ‘at home’, rather than to move to a new stadium elsewhere in the city.

“It is good news that we are staying here, in our historic home,” he said. “Forest have had a few homes, but this has been it for a long, long time now.

“There have been changes I have seen over the years. The Bridgford End was not covered, for some time. The Trent End was smaller, with people gathered in there.

“I remember the East Stand being built and that took a while. But when it was done and ready, everything seemed great. Now, for the stadium itself to be built to a really high standard – that would be fantastic.”

Brian Clough and Peter Taylor walk onto the City Ground pitch to receive the Championship trophy. They had played Birmingham City that day.

O’Neill knows it would be great for the club to secure their place in the top-flight before work is completed – or even before it starts.

“It will take over a year to build and you would love to think that the club could be in the Premier League, while we are doing that,” he said.

“The general view is one that will be fantastic for the club – and it is most importantly we are staying here.

“We hope it will be a Premier League stadium for a Premier League club. The club, at some stage, has to get back there and stay there.”

The redevelopment plans also include a complete replacement of the City Ground pitch and the under-soil heating.